Ezekiel 27:15

The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony. THE MEN OF DEDAN - near the Persian Sea: thus an avenue to the commerce of India. Not the Dedan in Arabia (Ezekiel 27:20), as the names in the context here prove, but the Dedan sprung from Cush (Bochart). (Genesis 10:7.) MANY ISLES WERE THE MERCHANDISE OF THINE HAND - i:e., were dependent on thee for trade (Fairbairn); came to buy the produce of thy hands (Grotius). THEY BROUGHT THEE FOR A PRESENT HORNS OF IVORY - ivory is so termed from its resemblance to horns. The Hebrew word for "ivory" [ sheen (H8127...

1-25 Those who live at ease are to be lamented, if they are not prepared for trouble. Let none reckon themselves beautified, any further than they are sanctified. The account of the trade of Tyre intimates, that God's eye is upon men when employed in worldly business. Not only when at church, praying and hearing, but when in markets and fairs, buying and selling. In all our dealings we should keep a conscience void of offence. God, as the common Father of mankind, makes one country abound in one commodity, and another in another, serviceable to the necessity or to the comfort and ornament of human life. See what a blessing trade and merchandise are to mankind, when followed in the fear of God. Besides necessaries, an abundance of things are made valuable only by custom; yet God allows us to use them. But when riches increase, men are apt to set their hearts upon them, and forget the Lord...

Verse Ezekiel 27:15. _THE MEN OF DEDAN_] Dedan was one of the descendants of Abraham by Keturah, and dwelt in Arabia, Genesis 25:3. _Ivory_ and _ebony_ might come from that quarter. By way of distinction ivory is called both in Hebrew ש _shen_, and in Arabic [Arabic] _shen_, the TOOTH, as that beautiful substance is the _tooth_ of the _elephant_....

The thread broken at Ezekiel 27:8 is taken up, and the various nations are enumerated which traded with Tyre. Ezekiel 27:12 TARSHISH - Tartessus in Spain (marginal references). Spain was rich in the metals named. MERCHANT - Especially applied to those who traveled about with caravans to carry on trade (see Genesis 23:16). FAIRS - Or, “wares” Ezekiel 27:33. The word occurs only in this chapter. The foreign merchants gave their wares in return for the products delivered to them

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 27:2 TAKE UP A LAMENTATION FOR TYRUS. The dirge over the merchant-city that follows, the doom _sic transit gloria mundi, _worked out with a fullness of detail which reminds us of the Homeric catalogue of ships ('Iliad,' 2:484-770), is almost, if not altogether, without a parallel in the history of literature. It can scarcely have rested on anything but personal knowledge. Ezekiel, we must believe, had, at some time or other in his life, trod the sinful streets of the great city, and noted the mingled crowd of many nations and in many costumes that he met there, just as we infer from Dante's vivid description of the dockyards of Venice ('Inf.,' 21.7-15) that he had visited that city. Apart from its poetic or prophetic interest, it is for us almost the _locus classicus _as to the geography and commerce of t

THE MEN OF DEDAN WERE THY MERCHANTS,.... Not Dedan in Idumea or Edom, but in Arabia, from Dedan the son of Raamah, Genesis 10:7: MANY ISLES WERE THE MERCHANDISE OF THINE HANDS; that is, many isles took off their manufactures from them, in lieu of what they brought them, which were as follow: THEY BROUGHT THEE FOR A PRESENT; that they might have the liberty of trading in their fairs and markets; or rather for a reward, or as a price, for the goods they had of them: HORNS OF IVORY AND EBONY; Kimchi reads them as separate things; and which the Targum confirms, "horns, ivory, and ebony"; elks' horns, or horns of goats, as the Targum; and "ivory", or the teeth of elephants; and "ebony", which is a wood of a very black colour, hard and heavy, and of which many things are made. The Targum takes it for the name of a fowl, and renders it peaco

Ezekiel 27:1. Ezekiel 27:1 give an interesting description of the world-wide commerce and glory of this proud world city. “Sic transit gloria mundi,” thus passeth the glory of the world! Of the proud and wicked mistress of the sea nothing but ruins remain and her very site is no longer known. What her past glory was is made known by the prophet, yet Ezekiel never had been to that city, nor did he have any knowledge of her grandeur, her great wealth and far reaching commerce. God revealed all unto him. The description of her great commerce reminds us of that coming world-system as described in the last book of the Bible, the Revelation. Babylon the Great will be both an ecclesiastical and commercial world center. Her commerce is just like the commerce of Tyrus...

EZEKIEL 27. THE DIRGE OVER TYRE. The interest of the brilliant poem that follows is greatly enhanced by the description of the commerce of Tyre in a passage (Ezekiel 27:9_ b_ - Ezekiel 27:25_ a_) remarkable alike for its textual difficulty and for its importance as a source for our knowledge of the trade of the ancient world. Tyre is compared to a gallant ship, of finished beauty, with equipments the finest and costliest, manned and piloted by the most skilful of sailors (Ezekiel 27:1). In Ezekiel 27:5, Senir = Herman. In Ezekiel 27:6, Kittim =

MEN. sons....

The market of Tyre Several things are to be observed in this passage: 1. The representation is not that Tyre is traded with by the nations, though this is the fact lying under the figures employed. The nations are not customers of Tyre. Tyre neither buys nor sells, nor does she exchange one article for another. The nations are _her_merchants, who bring to her wares from every land; or they are her dependents, and the merchandise which they bring is a tribute which they render her (Ezekiel 27:15). They are her subjects, ministering to her luxury, bringing wares to her, and enriching her. The counterpart to this idea is that she enriches many peoples by bestowing her wealth upon them (Ezekiel 27:33). 2. The passage is artistic. Two words are employed for "to trade," "to be a merchant." The words have